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VX 10000

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Looks like LG has some new phones on the horizon and looks like this one takes the cake.  Its nice and thin and has a full QWERTY so right up my ally.  The Voyager (pictured) does it all, with a full screen touch screen on the outside, and a second screen on the clamshell interior, facing a gargantuan QWERTY keyboard. V CAST Mobile TV makes an appearance, as does a microSD slot and 2 megapixel camera. All of these phones are supposed to be out by Thanksgiving, but no word on price or exact dates

Windows Live Writer vs. Zoundary

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Well after playing with these two Windows desktop blogging applications I would have to say that I am shocked, I am actually going to pick the product that is done by Microsoft!  So Windows Live Writer is the winner.  Both products are in beta still but Live Writer has a big leg up.

Zoundary:

  • Automatically copies the URL to the link to dialog box
  • Easy setup, and auto discovery of blog
  • Ability to easily change and edit posts
  • Spell Check automatically

Windows Live Writer:

  • All the above in addition to plug-ins
  • Ability to add maps, tables, video on the fly!
  • Cleaner interface
  • Shorter load time
  • Doesn’t download all your blogs only selectively updates them
  • Easier manipulation of photo’s and text
  • LONG time to run through install but easy to setup
  • Ability to add categories to your blog
  • Better WYSIWYG interface and better interpretation of CSS sheets from the blog

The Open Source Stuff Running my Site

Phpbb_logo wordpress-logo coppermine_logo Gallery logo webcal-logo-small

PHPBB – this has proved to be super useful especially with communication with my teammates for school.  It gives a central repository for files and for communication so we all know what’s going on

WordPress – well duh! you are using it right now to read this!

Coppermine – The photo management system for my web-site, easy to use and super reliable

Gallery – The photo management system for Laura’s web-site super easy to use and has a nice interface for uploading

WebCalendar – great for allowing everyone access and the ability to add events to a calendar

Yes this video is the perfect thing when you are having a bad day it makes me laugh every time and yes I am one of those crazy cat people! PS…not safe for work just because of the bad words here and there

XO has a Corn Stripper

cornstripper So XO probably my favorite kitchen utility people have made this awesome invention, it peals the corn right off the cob so you don’t have to fiddle with a knife.  Kind of a great idea for someone who loves corn on the cob but likes to eat it off the cob!  Product Link

Joost Makes it out of Beta

Joost So looks like Joost is finally out of private beta and ready for the big time.  I haven’t had a chance to try it but with the amount of sponsorship and things I have read about them I cannot help but think that they are in the right marketplace at the right time.  They have sponsorship from some of the major entertainment providers and heard that they just got sponsorship from the baseball leagues to air all the games pretty cool stuff! Check them out

Windows Live Writer

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Well looks like Microsoft has thrown in their hats for a desktop blogger so this is my first attempt with it.  You can download it from here

There are also some plugins that you can download and install for the writer here.

Verdict is still out if this is better than Zoundary but thought I would give it a try and play with it for a couple of days before I make a decision.

Ratchet & Clank Future

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Quiet possibly the best game ever made and they just came out with a new series. Ratchet & Clank Future I think I now have a bunch of reasons to buy that PS3 I have always wanted to get…too bad school is in the way and the lack of an HDTV doesn’t help either

Subversion Setup

This is a copy off the Life Hacker website to creating your own SVN using Tortoise to manage your repository. Subversion is a great idea and I think that everyone should have it. This would be great if you had a full time home server running which seems to be the next phase in home computing. LifeHacker also had a follow up article on how to use Tortoise which is right here but the program is super easy and speaks for itself.

Setting up your Subversion server

  1. * Download and install Apache 2.0… – for Windows, you want the Win32 Binary (MSI Installer) about half way down the page – you don’t want 2.2…. When you’re installing Apache, you can keep all the defaults unless you know what you’re doing and have your own good reasons for switching things up.
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  3. Download and install Subversion 1.3.2 (the svn-1.3.2-setup.exe download). Again, just accept all of the defaults in the setup, making sure that “Install and configure Subversion modules…” is checked.
  4. Download and install TortoiseSVN (TortoiseSVN-1.3.5.6804-svn-1.3.2.msi), an attractive Subversion client for Windows that makes dealing with Subversion repositories a breeze via right-click.
  5. * Edit your Apache httpd.conf file at C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf\httpd.conf (make a backup first in case something goes awry) to add the following lines of code to the end of the file:

    # Configure Subversion repository
    <Location /svn>
    DAV svn
    SVNPath “C:\svn”
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName “Subversion repository”
    AuthUserFile “c:\svn_conf\passwd”
    Require valid-user
    </Location>

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    Save and close the httpd.conf file, then restart Apache.

  6. Create two folders on your C:\ drive – one called svn and another called svn_conf (svn_conf is not necessary if you’re using Subversion without Apache).

* Password protect your Subversion repository by firing up the command line and typing the following commands:

cd "C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\bin"
htpasswd -c C:\svn_conf\passwd adam

substituting your name for adam.

Create your first repository

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The last thing we’re going to do this week is create our repository. Go to your C:\ drive, right-click the svn folder and select TortoiseSVN -> Create repository here… command. If all goes well, TortoiseSVN should ask you what type of repository you’d like to create. Select Native filesystem (FSFS) and click OK. You will get a message telling you that “The Repository was successfully created.” Congrats!

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Finally, let’s import the directory of files that you want to keep under version control into your newly-minted repository. Right-click on your to-be-controlled folder and select TortoiseSVN -> Import…. You need to give TortoiseSVN the directory of your repository, so browse for C:\svn. Click OK and all of the files under your chosen directory will be imported into your Subversion repository at C:\svn.

If you set up Subversion with Apache, you can test it out by directing your browser to http://localhost/svn and entering your username and password. If you’re not using Apache, you can verify that everything worked by right-clicking on a new folder and checking out your files from the repository (right-click -> SVN Checkout…). Just direct TortoiseSVN to the directory of your Subversion repository.

We’ve really just skimmed the surface of what you can do with Subversion, so if you still aren’t quite sure what the point is, be sure to tune in next week when I’ll demonstrate the glory of Subversion in action. In the meantime, you might want to play around with your repository, checking out and committing files, to get familiar with its most basic functions.

WordPress Themes

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This website is great for free wordpress themes and is super easy to navigate. WordPress Themes